‘Day Maker’ Alarm Clock Brings Toaster-Popping Fun to an iPhone Dock

When you think of alarm clocks, you generally don’t imagine something that brings joy or whimsy to your life. No, an alarm clock is typically something you want to throw against the wall each morning.

But now a company called Habitco has merged traditional alarm clock functionality with the iPhone, and thrown in a bit of toaster action as well. The result is the Day Maker, a piece of hardware we’d never want to slam against our walls.

Pop your iPhone into the top of the Day Maker before you hit the hay. When your alarm goes off the next morning, your iPhone pops back up like a piece of freshly toasted bread. If you want to snooze, just pop your iDevice back into the slot so you can get some extra zzz’s.

“I remember waking up with my iPhone and using the snooze function. I’d always turn it off and it drove me insane,” Habitco founder and maker Michael Kritzer told Wired. “We wanted to create something that you can interact with that has positive connotations. That’s why Day Maker pops: It’s a positive affirmation of the morning.”

And while it’s not quite the same as throwing something across the room, users should receive a certain Whack-A-Mole-like satisfaction from popping their phones back into the dock.

“What we’re trying to do is make products that establish new habits and experiences that create joy,” Kritzer said.

The Day Maker comes in two variations. One will dock two iPhones or iPod touches, while the other is a “single slice” model for just one iDevice. On the front is a speaker grille and a self-setting analogue clock. It’s designed to work with the iPhone’s clock app, or with Habitco’s own alarm app, which will be coming this fall.

We first saw the Day Maker as a concept last year. Shortly after, Kritzer found a manufacturing partner for the design. The partnership ended up falling through, however, and Kritzer then decided to put the project on Kickstarter.

The Habitco team is hoping to raise $275,000 to bring the Day Maker alarm clock to fruition. “$275,000 to make it is not profitable money. It’s just for production because we don’t have access to off-the-shelf goods,” Kritzer said.

Kritzer is aiming for the product to land in early 2013. With a potentially redesigned iPhone on the horizon, he doesn’t want the product to land early, say, around the holidays, and then become obsolete if the iPhone requires a redesigned dock. Habitco plans to have a few adapters available for the varied-size iPhone and iPod models, and the dock will be able to accommodate ultra-thin cases (a list of approved cases will eventually be available).

Those who donate to the Day Maker Kickstarter project will get credit either in the product manual or on the product website.